Design and implementation of clinical competency evaluation system for nursing students in medical-surgical wards

BACKGROUND: In nursing, it is important to ensure the evaluation of students’ clinical competency and using a valid and reliable evaluation system is necessary. The aim of this study was to design a clinical competency evaluation system for nursing students in medical-surgical wards and determine its validity and reliability. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on the nursing students who were spending their practicum courses at the medical-surgical wards. First, the educational objectives and applicable evaluation tools were determined. Then, three tools of: Direct Observation of Procedural Skills (DOPS), Mini Clinical Evaluation Exercise (Mini-CEX), and Clinical Work Sampling (CWS) were determined as appropriate tools. Finally, the evaluation system was designed and its validity was confirmed using content validity index (CVI) and content validity ratio (CVR). Reliability of the tools was calculated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. RESULTS: CWS tool had CVI = 0.91 and CVR = 0.93, DOPS tool had CVI = 0.98 and CVR = 0.94, and Mini-CEX tool had CVI = 0.93 and CVR = 1. These results indicated desirable validity of the designed evaluation system. In addition, all items had appropriate CVR. Reliability was also higher than 0.7. Significant difference was found between the results of students’ evaluation using the School's current evaluation method and the designed evaluation system. From the perspective of teachers and students, the designed evaluation system was accepted. CONCLUSION: The designed evaluation system had high reliability and validity. Its application satisfied the majority of teachers and students. Therefore, it can be used as a useful evaluation system for assessing clinical competencies in medical-surgical wards.